on this edition of "our world with black enterprise" we're in the nation's capitol for a one on one interview with u.s. attorney general eric holder. then our on the record panel tackles race, politics in our community. that's what's going on in "our world" up next.

. voter i.d. laws are

considered by many to be a republican attempt to disenfranchise and suppress poor, young and minority voters who tend to lean democratic. republicans argue the laws are spended to curb voter fraud but studies in ten states found out ofñ;40 million registered voter there were fewer than 70 voter ten laws were passed in this year alone including alabama, kansas,ñi mississippi, tennesse and wisconsin. judge blocked pennsylvania from enforcing its law this november, and south carolina and texasñi e suing the department of justice for blocking theirs. attorney general eric holder is an outspoken critic against these and similar voter i.d. laws calling them the equivalent of a modern day poll tax. i caught up with the attorney general in washington, d.c. busy time for you. >> always is. the justice department is an interesting place and a lot of issues we are constantly conare

fronting. it's always busy here. >> i know why it's especially busy, everyone is debating whether or not this is discrimination, whether or not this is something we shouldn't even be talking about. >> the justice department has a unique responsibility inñ that regard. we're the enforcers of the voting rights act of 1965 and in particular section five of that act which deals with the whole question of voting and so we've been active in that regard. we file suits against certain states where we thought the practices that they sought to introduce were." inappropriate. we have precleared other states where we think the changes they have made are in fact appropriate so we have a good number of lawyers in our civil rights division who are engaged at this moment in just that subject. >> help walk me through this, because you know, there are many people who are saying that the voter i.d. law that are being introduced are unfair that, they violate the spirit of the voting rights act. >> vote something a fundamental right. the 1965 voting rights act is in some ways the crowned jewel of thejf civil rights legislation, and it is my responsibility as

attorney general, responsibility of those of us in the justice department to ensure that the american people have that most basic of rights, the ability to express themselves, to choose their leaders, the right of the franchise, people died, people gave their lives, people suffered in order to have that very important right, and it is something i take seriously as attorney general. >> are people whonb challenge who say everyone has access to an i.d. if you don't have an i.d. go get one. what is going on in texas or pennsylvania that makes that not the case? >> well, first make it very clear, we are against voter fraud but a lot of the assumptions that people make about people having the necessary i.d. is not accurate. there are a substantial number of people who live in cities who dot no have driver's licenses. there are people who have voted for 50 and 60 years who do not have the required identification that some of these new laws say they must have in order to vote. in some instances as we saw in texas, getting these required

identification materials is too difficult, they have to drive too far to get them, you have to pay once you get to that place in order to get something there. it is a constitutional right, you should never have to pay for, to exercise a constitutional right, and so for those and other reasons, we have been very appropriately aggressive in going against those laws that we think contravene the '65 voting rights act. >> many argue it's the republican party that wants tone force these laws because quite frankly it suppresses a group of black people, brown people, poor people who don't traditionally vote republican. >> we have to make our judgments on the basis of the law and the determinations that we make are legal ones, not political ones, and i'm acting i think consistent with the obligations and the tradition of this department. >> you're also obviously the first african-american attorney general, the first african-american deputy attorney general. you're certainly leaving. does it shape in any way sort of

how you goñi about your job or w you think about your job? 1 of the united states and i'm the attorney general for all of the american people, but i think about you know, generations of african-americans who did not have opportunities, that i have, and i want to try to make sure that opportunity is available to people of all colors, all faiths, all genders. it's one of the things that i think i have to try to do as attorney general. so there's a special pressure i suppose that's brought, given the unique fact that i am the first african-american attorney general, butfá again, i focus o the job, focus on the traditions of this department. i think i can do the right thing. >> it says relationship with presidentxd obama that's sometis challenging. >> we have a personal relationship, and i am his attorney general, but that means that our professional relationship has to be a little different. the attorney general has to be independent of the white house and so it means that some of the

very important things i do i can't share with him. >> is it tough? >> yeah, it is because as i said we have a good relationship. we like each other, but i think he understands also that it's iq his best interests as well as the department's and the nation's for the justice department, and the attorney general to be independent. he asked me you wanted this job. you still think this was a good decision on your part and we laugh about that. >> what's your final answer when you ask that? >> yeah. it was a job that i wanted. i was glad that he thought that i could do the job and gave me the opportunity to become attorney general. you know, i have a limited time that i'm going to be attorney general. i had a life before, i'll have a life after and i hopeñi during e time that i'm attorney general i will focus on the kinds of things that are going to make america a better place, that make america be the country that it can be, a country that lives up to its values, all the kinds of positive changes that have, that we made and that we still

need to focus on. >> up next on "ourfá world with black enterprise" -- >> that is changing the game mid game. don't tell me why we're not prepared. why did you change the game?

>> closed captioning for "our world" is brought to you by -- n. icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. [ shaq ] icy hot. power paspain.

welcome back.fá i was at this year's congressional black caucus annual conference in washington, d.c., moderating the town hall. the conversation included people from different political parties, generations and perspectives, all committed to protecting our interests, our ou. lfyrñ let me start with you, ms brazile as vice chairwoman of the democratic national committee. you've been around the country. what do you see going on? >> over the last 12 months we have seen more thanfá 180 restrictive voter i.d. laws introduced in state legislative halls all throughout the country. just to let you know the impact that these laws will have, 17 states have passed restrictive voting laws, 17 states that have the potential to impact the 2012 presidential election. these states account for 80% of the electoral votes that are needed in order to win the

presidency. ixd want to urge everyone prett much everything that you can produce, your driver's license, your birth certificate, your voter registration card, anything, and utilities, and your utility payments, because this fall, we will see hurdles that we have not seen since 1965, and this is something that bothers all of us. >> we understand that the laws are changing but the question here also is, does it constitute racial discrimination? >> well first of all, it'sxd discrimination because in any number of studies, but i'll quote the pew group, have talked about the disproportionate impact it has on african-americans and latinos. one, we are not against identification. you know, they're trying to act like you have to have i.d. to do anything. we're saying have the same i.d. this year that you had when reagan ran and clinton ran and bush ran.

people need to be clear. we're not talking about we're against i.d. we're against the new restrictive voter i.d., because they're trying to tell the public we just want to open up the polls. that's not what we're doing. we're saying that there's been no fraud. the justice department has established there's been 0.0003% cases of fraud, so this is a solution looking for a problem, not a problem looking for a solution. lastly, i'm glad you put me on this side, because i am with the conservative. i'm a conservative. i'm trying to conserve the voting rights act. i'm trying to conserve, i'm trying to conserve the civil rights act. >> i wonder how long you thought about that. >> the radicals who are trying to have a radical departure from what made this country great. we're trying to conserve the country. others are trying to turn the country back, and we're not going back. >> not going back. >> earlier this year there were ten felons convicted felons who

were found to have voted illegally, and also in april of this year, in a statewide report they found 50 people in virginia who votedmy illegally, and so "richmond times dispatch" said this was not a problem in search of a solution or a solution in search of a problem but this was very real and so from my perspective, is it racialization? we are all equal in this country under the color of law. these voter i.d. laws are designed specifically to allow people to have the confidence and the integrity in the ballot box that has been upheld by our supreme court and our rule of law. >> and folks, here are the facts. voter i.d. laws are not gym ñ crow, because they apply to all of us no matter what our skin color. 89% of americans in this country have the proper i.d. to vote. whose fault is it that 25% of black americans will not or cannot get an i.d.? whose fault is thatlp? when others seem to get i.d.s and did youñ know in 2008 when

the supreme court ruled on indiana's voter i.d. law, they found it to be constitutional, and guess what? after the laws were passed in indiana in georgia, minority participation in the electoralç process increased for blacks by 40%. so i find it veryxd hard to believe and i'm tired of being talked down to as a black woman and being told what i can't do, to me our message needs to be what's wrong with the 11%? they need to get with the game and get an i.d. to vote. >> i'm supposed to be going with google and the civil rights leader are about to jump out of their chairs. >> i'm going to be very, very brief. no one here is saying we can't. all of us have overcome something in our lives. that's not the issue, but we fought a battle for equality and justice a long time ago. if we don't stand up for it now our children and grandchildren

will be fighting. >> but how -- >> crystal i'll give you a chance to get back in. we're going to do this fá dignified. >> you raise whose fault it is people don't have i.d.s. my grandmother's birth she doesn't have a birth certifica certificate. it's in the bible. these young people that live in cities like new york, philadelphia, they don't even drive, so why do they need a driver's license? they take public transportation, a lot of them don't have jobs because of the way this economy is going. disabled people don'tñr drive. why do they need an i.d.?ua" cfo we have to look at who has been singled out in this process, it is the student, it is poor people, it is the elderly, it is disabl disabled, it is people who historically vote democratic. it is predetermined. >> i have to pause there. i'll let reverend sharpton respond. >> first of all, we can have different opinions but we can't have different facts. >> and where were my facts different, where were my facts wrong? >> i didn't interrupt you one

time. >> but you implied=k: my facts e different. >> we're going to let everyone respond and engage. >> the indiana case that the supreme courtxd ruled was not t same i.d. laws that we're dealing with in pennsylvania and in other states. you're acting as though that one case is a uniform i.d. xdlaw, a congresswoman said, we have state by state different laws. texas has one law, pennsylvania another law, ohio another law. if, in fact as ron christie said they have the national federal i.d. law you could say that. we're talking about different states, different laws, and we should not act as though the supreme court ruling said that, as a case in point, a fact is, a texas federal court just said it is discriminatory the i.d. laws that they put in texas in 2012.

that's one.ño;@r(t&háhp &hc& that's a fact. that's a fact. secondly, when you change these state laws mostly early this year and late last year, the game was already on for this election. we are not talking about changing something later. we're talking about changing something now. people cannot vote now that could have voted in the last election, and many did. that is changing the game mid game. don't tell me why we're not prepared. why did you change the game? >> all right. coming up -- >> this election is important. whatever it takes we got to get out there and vote like we never, ever voted before! we've got to do it! byrñ "our world wit byrñ "our world wit enterprise" is

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i'd like to go to the three lawmakers that are on the panel right now, because part of what this has become in some ways is an abstract argument. it's become a kind of ideological argument where people aren't entirely clear of what's at stake and so what i'd like representatives fudge, lewis and watt to talk about is what kind of issues are voters in your districts dealing with right now, with regard to voting? >> what people need to understand is that if we can't get our vote out, this election could change significantly in the state of ohio. so our battle is not only to educate people on what they need to vote, but more importantly that they got to get out and vote. people don't go to the polls and try to pretend to be somebody they're not. so what did they not change? absentee ballots. because that's the way most people of means and republicans

vote is absentee. >> so the one thing that could cause fraud is the one thing that -- >> the one thing that nobody's touched. and i'll say lastly to you and i say this all the time, we realize that something is important when people try to take it from us. people never try to take anything from you that is not important. so understand that if they tried to limit our ability to shape our own futures and right our own history, we can't let them do t and we can't go back. thank you.ñi >> congressman watt? >> well, i knew you were going to get to me at some point. when i think of voting rights in addition to john lewis, i think ofxd all of those long lines th i saw in south africa. >> um-hum. >> peopleñi standing in line, n

a single registration was required, the whole idea of requiring people to register to been ñrundemocratic, right? i mean in this day of çó technology, we ought not be requiring people to register, we ought not be requiring that they be in the state that they vote in. i mean none of that, i mean we can track people. i mean, if we can find somebody in pakistan -- >> in a hole. >> -- we can figure out whether somebody is eligible to vote without them having to march down with a damned utility bill. come on. >> i find it hard to believe

that, and with the free i.d.s, i'm still not going to -- i have a problem with the way the debate is being framed as when black americans want to travel, when they want to buy over-the-counter drugs, when they want to buy prescriptions, when they want to go to nightclubs -- you can boo me until the cows come home -- we find an i.d. and only 40% of americans even bother to vote. >> i've been trying to be very non-violent today really. really, i'm trying, but we really, truly believehat we're one people, that we're one family, that we're one house, the american house, the world house. the late april randolph used to say over and over again "maybe our foremothers and forefathers all came to the great land in different ships but we're all in the same boat now." people must learn that.

they must get it, and that's why this election is important. they give us the voter i.d. if they want to enderlely voting, whatever it takes, we got to get out there and vote like we never, ever voted before! we got to do it! >> see more from the cbc, logon to our web extra station on our landing page. we'll be right back.

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that wraps it up for this edition of "our world with black enterprise." visit us on the web at blackenterprise/our world. thanks for watching. we'll see you next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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